Pope Leo XIV makes historic apology for Holy See's own role in legitimizing slavery

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Source: Associated Press, via KCRA

Pope Leo XIV makes historic apology for Holy See's own role in legitimizing slavery

Updated: 3:20 AM PDT May 25, 2026
Associated Press

VATICAN CITY — Pope Leo XIV made a historic apology on Monday for the role the Holy See itself played in legitimizing slavery and for having failed to condemn it for centuries, calling the Vatican’s record a “wound in Christian memory.” … Past popes have apologized for Christians’ involvement in the trans-Atlantic slave trade. But no pope has ever publicly acknowledged, much less apologized for, the role that past popes themselves played in giving European sovereigns explicit authority to subjugate and enslave “infidels.”

History’s first U.S.-born pope, whose family history includes both enslaved people and slave owners, delivered the apology in his first encyclical, “Magnifica Humanitas,” (Magnificent Humanity), which was released Monday. … The sweeping manifesto is about safeguarding humanity in an era of increasing reliance on artificial intelligence. Leo raised the trans-Atlantic slave trade in relation to what he called the new forms of slavery and colonialism that the digital revolution is fueling, such as the unregulated labor required to procure rare minerals needed for AI chips.

In doing so, Leo responded to decades of calls by Black American Catholics, activists and scholars for the Holy See to atone for its own role in the colonial-era trade in human beings. … “It is impossible not to feel deep sorrow when contemplating the immense suffering and humiliation endured by so many in stark contrast to their immeasurable dignity as persons infinitely loved by the Lord,” Leo wrote. “For this, in the name of the Church, I sincerely ask for pardon.”

Centuries of legitimizing slavery for European colonizers

The Vatican has insisted that it always upheld the dignity of all human beings as children of God. But a series of 15th-century directives from the Vatican authorized Portuguese sovereigns to conquer Africa and the Americas and enslave non-Christians. … In 1452, for example, Pope Nicholas V issued the papal bull Dum Diversas, which gave the Portuguese king and his successors the right “to invade, conquer, fight and subjugate” and take all possessions — including land — of “Saracens, and pagans, and other infidels, and enemies of the name of Christ” anywhere. … The bull also gave the Portuguese permission “to reduce their persons to perpetual slavery.” … That bull and another issued three years later, Romanus Pontifex, formed the basis of the Doctrine of Discovery, the theory that legitimized the colonial-era seizure of land in Africa and the Americas.

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Read more: https://www.kcra.com/article/pope-leo-xiv-apologizes-vatican-role-slavery/71399472

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Gee, thanks.
—————-

Hat tip, Joe.My.God.

https://www.joemygod.com/2026/05/pope-leo-apologizes-for-holy-sees-role-in-slavery/

[hlthe2b]

1. Pope Leo is going to make a major impact, given he is not afraid to speak truth...

and especially given his ability to speak to the abusive acts of certain Western nations.

[Clouds Passing]

2. Love this man

[LudwigPastorius]

3. Having to apologize for a centuries-long oopsie kind of puts a big crack in that whole "papal infallibility" thing.

Doesn't it?

[ancianita]

4. Big Nope. Infallibility refers to statements made Ex Cathedra. NO pope has ever spoken ex cathedra to declare slavery

a morally acceptable practice.

The doctrine of ex cathedra (papal infallibility) is invoked when the pope speaks definitively on matters of faith and morals for the entire Church. No papal statement endorsing or legitimizing slavery has ever met the strict theological criteria required for this classification.

Other popes explicitly opposed the enslavement of specific groups early on. Pope Eugene IV issued the papal bull Sicut Dudum in 1435 condemning the enslavement of newly converted Indigenous people in the Canary Islands, and Pope Paul III issued Sublimis Deus in 1537 forbidding the enslavement of all indigenous peoples in the Americas.

In 1839, Pope Gregory XVI officially condemned the trans-Atlantic slave trade in his bull In Supremo Apostolatus. Later, the Church formally declared chattel slavery — based on race or treating human beings as property — to be a grave violation of human dignity.

[LudwigPastorius]

6. So, popes (say Nick V, for instance) can be fallible, as long as their directives aren't "official".

Okay

[ancianita]

9. They are human and can err. But almost all of the 267 pope's in Jesus's 2,000 year old church hold to the Gospel

Last edited Tue May 26, 2026, 11:15 AM - Edit history (1)

as the Vicars of Christ, that all humans as made and loved by God.


The pope of the Catholic (meaning "universal" ) Church has always been the apostolic successor to Saint Peter, to whom primacy was conferred by Jesus, who gave Peter the Keys of Heaven and the powers of "binding and loosing" sins, naming Peter as the "rock" upon which the Church would be built. And so the Church's birthday (the first Christ-ian church) was 50 days after Jesus's resurrection.

And so his Church has been growing for 2,000 years, across six continents. Just clarifying, is all.

[BumRushDaShow]

5. It's a shame that that this gesture has gotten lost and drowned out in all the absurd news.

Many along much of the west coast of Africa swept up by the Portuguese were Muslims, who were then forcibly converted to Christianity.

And it took an unlikely American Pope to do this.

[ancianita]

7. Well, not totally drowned out. It stayed as the digital front page headline of the New York Times yesterday.

News of Pope Leo's encyclical on AI also stayed front & center yesterday in the Guardian, PBS, and TIME, and got at least four videos on YouTube. I think it was both smart and very important for the CEO of Anthropic to stand beside him in honor of the dialogue he wants with the AI world.

[BumRushDaShow]

8. Not that many still have a NYT sub

And although an American holiday (for the date), Memorial Day naturally had the most coverage and Iran was second! Observant Catholics are normally the targets for the encyclicals, but they are instructive for anyone else interested in the church's current thinking.

[ancianita]

10. Around 15 million digital subscribers by the end of next year.

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/06/business/media/new-york-times-earnings.html

While it's tru-ish that encyclicals have been meant for Catholics in the past, encyclicals are now addressed to all people of good will, which is one of many reasons Pope Leo entitled his first encyclical "Magnifica Humanitas."

https://www.vatican.va/content/leo-xiv/en/encyclicals/documents/20260515-magnifica-humanitas.html

[BumRushDaShow]

11. But as you might have noticed

many DUers dropped their subs due to Haberman (I have had mine since 1976).

And as to this -

While it's tru-ish that encyclicals have been meant for Catholics in the past, encyclicals are now addressed to all people of good will, which is one of many reasons Pope Leo entitled his first encyclical "Magnifica Humanitas.

"

That's sort of what I meant, but the audience would still end up being for followers and those who are neutral about church affairs but interested in any impactful doctrine changes or updates in general, as most of the rest of the general public is either Protestant, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, Jewish, or unaffiliated with any "established" church.

[ancianita]

12. Of course the audience might include all who are neutral, or of all other faiths. The encyclical is to people of

good will worldwide, rightly including the CEO of Anthropic and his cohorts in Silicon Valley and beyond (most AI developers in both China and the US have worked together), so that the pope can honor and broadly expand the good faith dialogue he believes will promote the common good of humanity.

[BumRushDaShow]

13. I agree on the intent and appreciate Pope Leo going farther than even Francis on advocacy

But the tech bros worship $$$$, Anthropic aside, where the radical Dominionists like Kegsbreath, have declared Anthropic persona non grata.

[ancianita]

15. Well, he's starting from a divine place that moves toward peace on Earth. Where and what

tech bros worship is a matter of free will, and even they know the kegsbreth dominionist crowd are temporary and likely scattered when the millions more of good will replace them in years ahead. This is a long game that even a four year window of grift won't beat. (Privatizer oligarchs are spiritually and materially outnumbered.) What the pope and church see is that in the end, all things work to the good for those who love God, no matter their faith path on Earth. I'm pretty sure that on some level even tech bros know they'll be better off deciding to work for the common good of humanity and their own descendants.

[BumRushDaShow]

16. There will always be the battle

and just posting the news about what has gone on this past year, has confirmed THAT for me.

[ancianita]

17. Yes, agree. You're foundational in posting the news; that said, the battle isn't always what it's reported to be.

[BumRushDaShow]

18. This afternoon and yesterday was such an example of the pendulum swings

https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143670337
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143670608
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143670721

That is what I am ticking off as to holding off complete obliteration.

[ancianita]

19. Absolutely important battles to cover!

I hope the midterm voting population has a high turnout as a result of these.

[50 Shades Of Blue]

14. Now do apologizing for forcing women to give birth at the cost of their own lives.